October 28, 2023

Mike Pence Becomes the First Major Republican Candidate To Drop Out of 2024 Race

Former Vice President Mike Pence delivered remarks at the Pray Vote Stand Summit in Washington last month. Shawn Thew/Zuma

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Former Vice President Mike Pence announced on Saturday that he is dropping his bid to become president after difficulty fundraising and not catching momentum in polls.

“After much prayer and deliberation, I have decided to suspend my campaign for president effective today,” Pence said at the Republican Jewish Coalition gathering in Las Vegas, according to the Associated Press. “We always knew this would be an uphill battle, but I have no regrets,” he said.

Pence is the first major Republican candidate to drop out of the race. Nine other candidates remain in the race, though none have been able to overtake former President Trump’s substantial lead in the polls. Florida Gov. Ron Desantis is the only other candidate to consistently reach double digit support in GOP primary polls, and his numbers, which hover around 11, are still much lower than Trump’s.

In dropping out, Pence implored his fellow party members to resist the “siren song of populism”, according to the New York Times. “It’s become clear to me that this is not my time.”

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THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

At least we hope they will, because that’s our approach to raising the $350,000 in online donations we need right now—during our high-stakes December fundraising push.

It’s the most important month of the year for our fundraising, with upward of 15 percent of our annual online total coming in during the final week—and there’s a lot to say about why Mother Jones’ journalism, and thus hitting that big number, matters tremendously right now.

But you told us fundraising is annoying—with the gimmicks, overwrought tone, manipulative language, and sheer volume of urgent URGENT URGENT!!! content we’re all bombarded with. It sure can be.

So we’re going to try making this as un-annoying as possible. In “Let the Facts Speak for Themselves” we give it our best shot, answering three questions that most any fundraising should try to speak to: Why us, why now, why does it matter?

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